My best cruise trips have always been the ones in which I've put in extra effort to plan what I'm doing when I'm off the ship.

The biggest appeal about taking a cruise is the opportunity to visit multiple interesting, beautiful locations in one trip. The downside is that without planning you might find that the only thing you see are the little tourist shops right at port -- surrounded, filled, and overrun by fellow cruisers.

By researching and planning you get to your destination knowing if a less busy beach is within walking distance, or that a short taxi ride can take you to a really cool museum.